Charles Carreon Stops Digging, At Least For The Moment: Dismisses His Lawsuit [Updated]

from the put-down-the-popcorn dept

Well, we may have found at least a temporary answer to the question of "just how far will Charles Carreon dig?" According to Mark Lemley, one of the lawyers representing IndieGoGo against Carreon, Charles Carreon has just dismissed his lawsuit. One hopes this means that he's finally realized that this entire process was a mistake. A broad apology for massive overreaction after massive overreaction from Carreon (and his wife who apparently referred to us at Techdirt as a "nazi scumbag") might be nice, but if it's just a general admission that he had gone too far, that seems good enough. Of course, given how far he went, and his repeated insistence on not giving up, I do wonder if this is really the end of all of this. Somehow I doubt it. This is a voluntary dismissal, which means he could refile. But, for a brief moment, it appears that he's stopped digging.

Update: Carreon is apparently declaring victory, claiming that the lawsuit gave him what he wanted. Uh, yeah. He sued to make sure that Matthew Inman and IndieGoGo did exactly what they said they were going to do... and then when they did exactly what they promised to do, he claims that's a victory? At best, he did two things: had Inman limit the donations to just two charities rather than four, and made Inman take some of his own money out of the bank to photograph it (as promised) for Funnyjunk, rather than use the actual money raised during the IndieGoGo campaign. If his goal there was to force that to prevent embarrassment I don't see how that's a victory. Does anyone honestly believe that Carreon came out of this with a better reputation than if he'd just let the original plans happen? Carreon could still face requests for legal fees from those he sued, though it wouldn't surprise me if they all just dropped it. Carreon seems to think the newfound attention he's received is a good thing, which just shows how completely out of touch he is. As Ars Technica notes:

But if the defendants pursued attorney's fees, the attention might be worth it for Charles Carreon. After asking for comment on his voluntary dismissal of charges, Carreon lilted over the phone, "I'm famous, I'm notorious." Which, from the looks of it, is exactly what he wants.

There are times that it's worthwhile to be notorious. And there are times that it's not. This is the second one.

Carreon Claims Victory

Many predicted he would do this.

"But while it may look like Carreon has come to his senses, Ars called Carreon to comment, and found him declaring the lawsuit a success. "Mission Accomplished," Carreon announced on the phone with Ars. We've heard that somewhere else before.

------------------------

But if the defendants pursued attorney's fees, the attention might be worth it for Charles Carreon. After asking for comment on his voluntary dismissal of charges, Carreon lilted over the phone, "I'm famous, I'm notorious." Which, from the looks of it, is exactly what he wants."

Yes he is. He's now a notorious douchebag, famous for filing frivolous lawsuits. The world has had a long hard look at his bully tactics and past behavior, and will for a long time to come any time his name is Googled. He's gotten a righteous smackdown from the EFF and one is underway from Public Citizen, and what did he accomplish? Absolutely nothing. Inman did what he said from the beginning he would do. Just waiting for that money shot now...

2 weeks ago he said this in an interview:

"Carreon tells Comic Riffs one of his goals is to become the go-to attorney for people who feel they have been cyber-vandalized or similarly wronged on the Internet."

Re: Carreon Claims Victory

"Many predicted he would do this."

It's not like that would have been very hard. Denial is the easiest human behavior of all to predict. To be honest I haven't really paid much attention to this whole didactical narrative. It all just seemed too puerile to be of much interest. The "Nazi" comment Tara made caught my eye though, being directed at all of us as it is, so I decided to read up a bit on what all the fuss is about.

Each comment of hers caused the same visual to repeatedly pop into my head; one of a five year old child throwing a temper tantrum in a crowded shopping mall, something I'm sure most of us have seen at one point or another during our lives. Much of what she's been quoted as saying blows my mind! Does Tara truly believe she and her husband are walking the high road in this whole affair?

I've been an internet user since it's inception (BBS prior to that) and have never seen anyone as crazy or deluded as she is. Yes I have encountered some pretty crazy folks in my time, but nobody that bonkers. She appears to be guilty of much of the same childish behavior she rails against too. Does she have a history of mental illness or was she just raised that way? I can't help but wonder. If sympathy and support is what she's after, she's definitely going about it the wrong way. Perhaps it's more about attention seeking than anything else? I know people will do all kinds of questionable things for just that alone. What a sad life she must lead.

Yeah, and somehow Tara also called you Mike "Retarded" in one of her posts on her website. ... Honestly I'm not going to forgive them that easily, considering that they have said some really nasty stuff about all of us, even if they could get away with it and some of the people on the Internet talk just like them.

It's going to be a LOOOOOONG time before they could redeem their former image. Until then... wait, what are we going to do now? Wait for the next idiotic lawyer to come and mess with the Internet? Gah, that seems sooo long!

Re:

I truly hope he is not let off the hook that easily. Others have racked up attorney's fees for his frivolous actions and those costs should fall on him as well as court costs. Both the bar and the court need to seriously take a look at his unethical behavior as well.

Re: Shall we start a pool?

I'm putting 5,000 points on #3 under the presumption he'll include Vint Cerf and DARPA in the next version since it was clearly their responsibility to have created a mechanism to police Internet bullies when they first invented the interwebs. And hedging my bet by placing another 5,000 points on #2 with the condition that he would then likely file a complaint with his local police department as well as the FBI and insist on witness protection. Or possibly seek out a restraining order that states the interwebs is not allowed to come within 500 feet of his place of abode.

Re: Re: Shall we start a pool?

and I waive my right to place a time frame on either outcome. Clearly you do realize that IS my right? Because if you think it's a term or condition I am obligated to comply with, I'll just hire Charles Carreon to sue your ass. :-)

Re: Shall we start a pool?

I'll match your 2000 points ...

Option 2 August 9, 2013

He'll wait at least a year, from he's openly stupid threat letter ..

" That I have the known capacity to litigate appeals for years (check my Westlaw profile, and of course, the drawn out history of Penguin v. American Buddha, now in its third year, having passed through the Second Circuit and the NYCA, and still hung up in personal jurisdiction in the SDNY). "

He will spend a year searching for any legal theory that will help his case, also watching for the passage of any new law that he can use ( TPP, SOPA like ). He's already mentioned he's got the cash, I think he also has the patience of the 'Weapon Grade Crazy'.

Re: Shall we start a pool?

Re: Shall we start a pool?

I only have 25 internet points left (after being unable to point people to a working internet site on another thread) so I'm going to place them all on a combination of all three.
To whit, he'll quietly go away for a while, will then start making noises about being bullied and then, after the passing of a convenient law, will start all this shite again.
What odds will you give me?

Re: Re: Re: Re:

Holy crap... I was chuckling for a bit, but when it listed the Pope and just went crazier from there... I'm so bookmarking and saving that thing for when I need an almost-pass-out-from-laughing level laugh.

Maybe I'll have the time to get stuff done again...

Reason Goes Where?

How does this even make sense at this point? He's basically destroyed his public image, credibility, and possibly legal career, he'll be a laughing stock and target of internet and possibly real-life hate for for years to come, and even his friends and coworkers are stumped by his temper tantrum. What does he have left that could possibly be more important than the revenge he's sacrificed everything to obtain?

"And, so, with the judge about to dismiss his TRO application as legally pointless, and just as the big guns come out, Carreon packs away his water pistol and declares victory on behalf of a public that didnít want or need his help ó and having accomplished nothing but provide them with entertainment at the expense of valuable public and charitable resources ó and rides into the sunset. We call this cowardice."

Carreon lilted over the phone, "I'm famous, I'm notorious." Which, from the looks of it, is exactly what he wants.

Yup. Everyone is now familiar with Charles Carreon, "that crazy lawyer guy that made a bunch of half-baked legal attacks on the American Cancer Society". The perfect guy to hire if you want a judge to drop your claims fast enough to break the sound barrier.

Well

Re: Well

What Carreon did was jump on his tricycle to engage in a game of "Chicken" but then quickly jumped out of the way when he saw the 18-wheeler coming at him. He then made the front page of the paper, because of his stupidity, and claimed he somehow won and that he's famous. All while the rest of the world is pointing at him and hysterically laughing their asses off at the douchebag.

Re:

Yeah I actually built my reputation within my industry on the notion that I rant. Ceaselessly. And use the words asshat, asshattery, asshattish all the time when describing others I find in my crosshairs. So even if WE think Carreon is a fool (and believe me, no so many counts he really is an asshat), there are probably a lot of companies and individuals who would fall for his marketing spin.

As I have no life, I've been giving quite a bit of thought to the name 'Carreon Effect'. I think it's a bit off. Like the' Streisand Effect' it seems to point to the Internet community's reaction to his asshattery, rather than the Asshattery itself. IMO, the 'Carreon Maneuver' is more appropriate as it refers to the actions themselves rather than the reaction. I would have used 'Gambit' but I personally have already given that to Dan Glickman's 'Glickman Gambit' for sneaking work for hire language into an unrelated bill, thus guaranteeing himself a place in infamy ( and the RIAA ). But it appears that the Greater Internet has spoken, and the Carreon Effect lives. :)

Real motives perhaps?

So given the "I'm famous, I'm notorious." line, am I the only one who now sees him as not so much a bully, but rather a poor little man-child who basically just threw a tantrum to get attention, not realizing that there's a difference between good attention and bad?

Re: Real motives perhaps?

" am I the only one who now sees him as not so much a bully, but rather a poor little man-child who basically just threw a tantrum to get attention, not realizing that there's a difference between good attention and bad? "

More like the 12 year old kid who crashes his bike into a tree, and insists 'I meant to do that'.

You have been found in violation of Genetic Patent #D265,936,067,174,935.d, The Human Stupidity Gene. You are hereby ordered to pay a fine not less than $34,856,927.23; watch 17 random, specially-selected Disney indoctrination films; and report to the nearest detention center for removal of said patented gene and any growths, alterations, or mutations arising thereof.

Larry Page is a 39 year old "has been." The gray haired voiceless wonder, we are told, has thyroid cancer. Isn't this poetic justice, that this promoter of "free speech" on the internet can't speak a single word? Me thinks there is a God! Let's hope that Larry Page permanently retires to a rest home, where he can contemplate how God took his voice away from him. Maybe his co-hort Sergey Brin will contract the genetic disease he inherited -- Parkinson's disease. Then he and Larry can play Mah Jong together until they are both incontinent and senile.